Defragmenting, or defraging, your computer should be done once a month. Start this before you go to bed, leaving the computer on. It can take a long time, especially if you don't do it on a regular basis. Why, and what does it do? When you go to a lawyer, they pull your file folder from their filing system, and give it to your lawyer. When you're done with your consult, the folder is put on a table. A clerk comes along, looks inside the folder for notes on further actions to be taken, then gives the instructions to the appropriate party. Once that's done, the file is returned to it's place in the filing system. Your computer is like a huge filing system.
Many of the files on your computer overlap when you use them. When you close a program, it does not put all the files back where they should go. Over time, it makes your computer run slower, since it has to sort through so many files to find the ones it needs. Defragmenting, or defraging, is the computer's way of putting all the files back into their place in the filing system. That way, your computer doesn't have to work so hard, and long, to find the ones they need.
To run the Defrag program in Windows 10: Click Start in the lower left corner. Scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools, then click to open. Scroll down to Defragment and Optimize Drives, then click. A small window will pop up, and your drive letters will be listed. Highlight your main drive (usually C) then click the Optimize button. Let it run until it's done. Yes, it can take hours, if it hasn't been done in a long time. If you have more than 1 drive, when the first one is done, click on the next, and optimize it. Continue until all your drives are defragmented, and optimized.
